United Art and Education The “everything store” for arts and educational supplies

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September 21, 2007
Judi E. Loomis - Aboite & About
When it comes to knowing exactly what merchandise United Art and Education carries in its massive stores, ask Mike Count, the store manager on North Clinton Street. Count has been with the family-owned United Art and Education organization for the past 17 years. He knows many of the store’s customers by name, and has a pretty good idea where to find merchandise when a question comes up.

United Art and Education is owned by Mr. & Mrs. Richard Johnloz, who started the company by supplying grocery store and convenience store outlets with displays of craft and educational supplies. The North Clinton store opened in 1991 and over the years has served teachers, fine artists, hobbyists, students, scouts, day care providers, librarians, parents, grandparents and children, with the area’s most complete selection of education supplies and fine arts materials.

“Our clientele includes just about everybody,” Count says. “Everyone from mothers to teachers to students. The one item we do not carry is text books, but we have all kinds of supplemental. We get the best teachers in our stores...the ones who are willing to spend their own money on their students.”

If you haven’t visited a United Art and Education store, plan to take considerable time to browse the aisles because there is a plethora of interesting and useful items to look at and choose from. The art department alone is one of the best around and offers everything imaginable from clay to oil and acrylic paints, to easels, canvases, sculpting tools and carrying cases.

Teachers absolutely love the educational department that caters to all age groups and includes the most up-to-date teacher tools, workbooks, games, puzzles, and imaginary figurines and toys.

“My advice to people who have not stopped at one of our stores is to come in and see what we carry,” says Count. “We have an incredible variety of just about anything you can think of for hobbies and education. If we don’t carry a particular item a customer wants we fill out a “Had To Say No” card, and that’s how we acquire a lot of things that most other places do not stock. At least once a month several of us will go through the cards and decide if a particular item was requested enough for us to start to stock. We also offer discounts on large quantities. We have a number of teachers who will come in with grant money and they will order large quantities of items at our stores, which we will then ship to them from our warehouse.

United Art and Education customers come from the greater Fort Wayne area, Muncie, Indianapolis and the surrounding states including Michigan and Ohio.

Count credits the many years of the company’s success on sticking to the original philosophy set forth by the Johnloz family—“It’s all about customer service,” according to Count. “This is a family-owned business, and it will continue to be a family-owned business with that philosophy set in stone.”

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